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If you watch TV, you’ve probably seen the ad: a series of quick shots of white folks of various types (chic young women; a straight couple in tennis duds with their dogs; a guy in a retro brown suit and bowtie) smiling and styling while a catchy, old school pop tune plays. The ad is for the Venetian Hotel’s new “Come as You Are” campaign; the tune is “Tintorella di Luna”, by the Italian singer, Mina.

Tim Easton said of Texas singer-songwriter Adam Carroll, “Adam Carroll is East Texas’ own Shakespeare of song…. His songs belong in Texan and Bayou anthropology courses, but mostly they should belong to your car stereo speakers.” We couldn’t agree more as Carroll’s songs are genuine, poetic, literary and relatable tales of life in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

This coming Friday, October 28th Austin-based Eight 30 Records is releasing a tribute to the influential Carroll entitled Highway Prayer: A Tribute to Adam Carroll, which includes takes on Carroll’s music by leading Americana luminaries like the Band of Heathens, Hayes Carll, Tim Easton, James McMurtry, and Slaid Cleaves.

by PopMatters Staff

Fresh on the heels of their recent album Music For Listening to Music To, La Sera is releasing a new EP on September 30th as they prepare for a long U.S. tour. Their new EP, Queens, contains a cover of the Led Zeppelin classic “Whole Lotta Love” as well as “Queens”.

by PopMatters Staff

Timothy Gabriele: This is the best of two collaborations between Antony and Hudson Mohawke dropped this week. The other, which also features Oneohtrix Point Never under the name ANOHNI, is also a stunner. An aching vocal, a moving melody, and a gorgeous music video, perhaps what most stands out is that overblown snare hit, fuzzing into the red as if to overwhelm the track even further. I’ve always found HudMo a bit overhyped, but this may just have me giving Lantern a listen after all. Rewind/Replay. [8/10]

Three years ago, Jordan Davis was shot and killed at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. He was 17 years old.

The man who shot him complained that Jordan and his friends played their music too loudly. When he pulled out his weapon to shoot at the boys’ car, the killer claimed self-defense, saying he saw a shotgun. No weapons were found in the car.